Italian physicist and astronomer Galileo Galilei was put on trial by the Catholic Church in 1633 for his belief that the Earth revolved around the sun.

His conflict with the Catholic Church originated around 1610 with the publication of his work Sidereus Nuncius, in which he expressed his support of Copernican astronomy. Galileo was ordered to turn himself in to the Holy Office after the Church decided that the Earth was the center of the universe, and therefore Galileo’s teachings were heresy.

On June 22, 1633 Galileo was found guilty of heresy and he was sentenced in three parts: he would serve time under house arrest (which he did for the rest of his life), he was expected to reject and deny his previous opinions, and his further works were banned from publication. It took the Catholic Church 300 years to clear Galileo’s name of heresy and admit that his beliefs were correct.